I think there are two factors here: 1) While the Caldor site is certainly more convenient to all means of public transportation (not to mention an existing underground parking lot), it is not in as prominent a location as the Keith’s is, sitting at the very head of Main Street. 2) After 20 years, Politicians just wanted to have done with the whole Keith’s issue already. They consider it nothing more than an “eyesore” that no one in the community – save for a few fanatical theater enthusiasts – gives a damn about. So, they throw us a bone with the alleged “restoration” of the lobby. Once the damn thing is built, the thorn in everyone’s side falls off.
As I said above, the Caldor’s site is an odd shaped parcel that is almost like two buildings (one on Roosevelt and one on Main) connected by a smaller passageway that wraps around the storefronts that actually sit on the corner of the intersection. So, you’d have to buy up the corner parcel(s) and then might want to consider the storefront parcel(s) to the south that abut the railroad tracks, depending on the scale of the building. And that part of Main Street is sort of grimy and very busy; usually teeming with foot traffic as well as vehicular gridlock due to the confluence of so many city bus lines, and therefore far less desireable than the wider and more orderly thouroughfare of Northern Blvd. I don’t think anyone will ever get Boymelgreen to relocate its plans to the Caldor’s site.
Multiple posts, I find, usually occur when you click the “Submit” button more than once. If it seems like the Submit request is taking a long time, you should still refrain from clicking the button again. Even when the site times out on me during the Submit process, often when I go back in, I find that my comment has been posted after all.
The Alexander’s/Caldor building is on the east side of Main Street just south of Roosevelt Ave and just a couple of storefronts north of the LIRR railroad tracks. It ran in an L-shape behind the buildings on the corner of Main and Roosevelt so that there was an even larger entrance and facade on Roosevelt. The Main Street entrance was across from 40th Road which ran into Main Street from the west and there is an underground parking garage located adjacent to the entrance. On Roosevelt Ave, the entrance was right next to Stern’s (which I guess is now a Macy’s). I think the corner was a Woolworth’s… but I might be mistaken.
Yes… PKoch… I’m getting my shows mixed up. It was Sanborn’s show that I’m thinking of on NBC late nights. Jools Holland was part of the show… was it called “Night Music”? I think it started on Sunday nights but was then moved to weeknights. One show had the band Bongwater, Screaming Jay Hawkins, the Modern Jazz Quartet and Bob Weir in acoustic duet with bassist Rob Wasserman. At the end, all these musicians (or folks from each band) got together and jammed. Quite a bunch. And a great house band that included, if I recall, Omar Hakim on drums and Hiram Bullock on guitar (both of whom had been in Letterman’s original band when his late night talk show debuted on NBC in ‘82).
Anyway… I’m confusing that show with the show that Jools Holland did on his own in the ‘90’s. I think when I saw it recently on cable, it reminded me of the Sanborn show and resulted in my mistaking it for an offshoot or updating.
Not sure about the “In Concert” from ‘72 and '73, but there was definitely an identically named show in the '90’s on ABC. One episode featured footage from Grateful Dead concerts at Giants Stadium in NJ with a theme centered around the Dead’s efforts to conserve the Rainforest.
I didn’t realize it had reopened before the end of that year. I thought the whole point of the qualifying run was that producers wanted to make sure the movie played at least one week in either New York or L.A. to be eligible for the following year’s ceremony. Did the engagement at the Beekman start too late to guarantee a full week of shows? Is your date of 12/22 accurate? If so, that should have done the trick.
I was reading today’s posting of the news item about a fire in the Yeadon Theater in PA and was delighted to learn that the Yeadon was saved from redevelopment after demolition had already begun and the rear wall had been taken down! I think that gives us some cause to maintain hope that something can be done about the Keith’s. Now, I’m sure dealing with the bureaucracy in NYC will be a great deal more dificult than it was in Yeadon, PA… but the story should serve as some inspiration never the less.
Truly sorry to hear about this and I hope that the Yeadon is salvagable. Sounds like the fire was confined mostly to the lobby area, so there is reason to believe a restoration will be possible. I will take one very positive thing away from reading this item and that is: that a prescious cinema treasure can be saved from extinction even as demolition was already begun! This gives hope to those of us who support the opposition to the proposed redevelopment of the RKO Kieth’s in Flushing, Queens, NY.
I see what Ken Layton is inferring, however. That there may have been a business rationale behind the theater manager’s decision not to book the film, rather than a motive of discrimination. Although, I supposed, one may assume that discrimination might be a root level operative here within that theater’s community. I take more umbrage at a chain of theaters (or video stores) that refuses to carry a specific title due to content on a blanket scale than I do at a single theater prudently reacting to the demands of their market. No sense in booking a film at a neighborhood cinema if no one in the neighborhood will support it anyhow.
If, on the other hand, a small group of self-righteous religious watchdogs have taken it upon themsleves to speak for the entire population of Salt Lake City and block bookings and screenings of “Brokeback Mountain” throughout the municipality, then I would criticize each theater for backing down in the face of intolerance.
Thanks Al!!! That’s been bugging me for a while now. Then I saw the movie at the 57th St. Playhouse. I probably saw another film or two that same day in the city, since my M.O. was usually to squeeze in as much as possible on these solo ventures into Manhattan.
East Coast… a history of hostility towards theater buffs on the part of the furniture store owner/manager has been noted in comments above. Thanks for the info. Yeah, I thought that Kirschner was on ABC, but I wasn’t 100% sure. I thought that maybe David Susskind’s interview show was on Channel 5 during that time slot, but I think Susskind’s show was on Sunday nights at 11:30. I’m still fuzzy on which show ran on which night. I’m thinking “Midnight Special” was Friday nights on NBC and “Rock Concert” was Saturdays on ABC.
ABC tried a show called “In Concert” for a while during the ‘90’s. I think they might have even had it on prime time at some point. And NBC used to carry an excellent and eclectic series on late nights called “Later” that was hosted by the former Squeeze keyboardist Jooles Holland. I recall that show mostly in the '80’s with David Sanborn as a co-host, but I have recently seen more recent episodes (featuring bands like Foo Fighters, Wilco and Coldplay) airing on the cable station Ovation. I think the show has been running in Britain for some time and only breifly made it on American network TV.
Yes East Coast… It didn’t last very long, but it was certainly the old Valley Stream under the name Rio. I saw some shows at the Calderone Music Hall as well – which had a more streamlined 1940’s style interior. Definitely Rio on Rockaway Ave. If you read some of the (albeit sketchy) history above, they built the theater with stage and fly space for live productions back in the 1920’s.
Patsy… I’ve been to the Christmas show on several occasions Jewish friends (including my ex-wife and our children who are all Jewish) over the years and – while the Nativity doesn’t have the same resonance with them as it would with a Christian of faith – they were able to appreciate the show purely for its entertainment value. Going in to the show with their eyes wide open (it is, after all, called the “Radio City Christmas Show”) they were not offended by the proceedings and happily stayed till the end, judging the spectacle purely on its artistic merits. The Nativity finale does not push the same hot buttons that, say, Mel Gibson’s film “The Passion” did (whether or not you agree with the criticism heaped upon that movie).
I should say that the same goes for me, since I am not what you would call a religious fellow. And, no, Bill… neither Elmhurst nor Laurelton are close enough to Hicksville that I would have seen “2001” at the Twin South Theater. Thanks for that suggestion, however.
I’m positive I saw “Frances” in December of ‘82 during an Oscar-qualifying run. I’m almost certain it was at the Cinema 1 & 2 on Third Avenue. Yet it makes AlAlvarez’ list for the Beekman. Al, can you tell me if it was booked into both theaters for that week? It didn’t open to wider release until the following January or February.
Thanks again for the great lists… it certainly does jog some memories, however, there are a few films here that might have played multiple theater on the East Side and I’m hesitant to nail them down as films I definitely saw at the Beekman. My heart is telling me to swallow the $600 annual pill for that Proquest subscription, but my wallet is holding me back! I just have to make some time to get to the library and check out the Times on microfilm.
“2001” is also my all-time favorite film, Bill. “Dr. Strangelove” is not too far behind. Kubrick may be my very favorite director. A friend of the family named Henry took me to see the movie when I was very, very young – perhaps 4 or 5 – towards the end of its initial theatrical release. I can vaguely remember childhood images from the opening “dawn of man” sequence up on a huge screen. I also saw “Planet of the Apes” around this time – maybe a year or so earlier – and I remember when I was 8 or 9 mistaking my memories of “2001” for “Apes.” Later, when I went to see the Fox “Go Ape” revival of all 5 “Apes†films on the same bill, I realized nothing in the movie matched the images I had in my mind of naked apes coming up over a hill in a threatening manner. When my Dad took me to see “2001” when it was re-released in the late ‘70’s, I finally realized that the images I had thought belonged to “Apes” were from the “Dawn of Man” sequence where the two clans face off over the drinking hole.
I have no recollection of which theater I saw “2001” either of those times, but I don’t think it was in Manhattan. I would have to do some research of newspaper ads to figure it all out. I lived in Elmhurst the first time I saw it and in Laurelton the second – so I presume the theaters were reasonably close to either neighborhood, and further reason that the prints were 35mm projected on flat screens. If so, that means I’ve never experienced the movie in a 70mm format, let along projected on a Cinerama screen. That is something I hope and pray one day to be able to put right. I might have also seen “2001†again as an adult in the ‘80’s, but I think it was at a Manhattan revival house â€" surely a 35mm print. I’d have to ask my ex-wife about that to confirm details.
Kirshner was also the man behind The Monkees! I remember the Rock Concert show. I recall it from the late ‘70’s mostly. If I’m not mistaken, it competed with a show called “Midnight Special” on WNBC channel 4 that featured Wolfman Jack as announcer and a variety of rotating guest hosts (I recall folks as diverse as Helen Reddy and Todd Rundgren taking turns). Both of these shows lasted until the very early '80’s – when the rising popularity of MTV probably took whatever remained of the wind out of their sails.
I forget which show it was, but one of them advertised that it would have the Grateful Dead on the following week – I was a burgeoning young Dead-Head at the time – and when I tuned in, it was merely some clips from the upcoming Grateful Dead movie that were shown. I’m trying to remember what the time slots were… I’m thinking Saturday nights, but then… channel 4 would have had Saturday Night Live on from 11:30 to 1am. Did they run on Friday night? I don’t think so…
Anyway… did Kirshner’s “Rock Concerts” always originate from the Loew’s 46th Street?
I only wish the prices for good event seating at the Hall would come down. Top price is $200 for the upcoming Chinese New Year show. I understand there is a scale and one can get in for as little as $49, if you don’t mind the third tier, you can’t touch the orchestra for less than $85 – and that’s all the way at the rear. That starts piling up pretty high if you want to bring the family along. Those ridiculous “Premium Seat” schemes aside, $100 will get you a top notch seat in the more intimate legitimate theaters of Broadway.
I suppose its what the market will bear, however. As long as they keep selling tickets at that level, the prices will never be lowered. I noticed that top price tickets for the current Rolling Stones stint at the Madison Square Garden are going for $454!!! Imagine that! I can recall seeing the Stones at the Garden in 1981 for something like $17.50. Never mind that back in the late ‘70’s you got the stage show AND a movie at RCMH for very popular prices.
Thanks for sharing that, East Coast Rocker – living up to your name indeed! I can’t recall which specific movies I saw here as well, though probably not very many. “High Anxiety” is a possibility since I remember seeing that with my Dad at the time we lived in Laurelton – but I remember seeing that movie early in its run and I’m not sure if this theater was still showing first run movies at the time. I returned here in ‘84 or so for a concert by the bands Hot Tuna and Bobby & The Midnights (a side project for Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead) when it was known as Rio.
I’m still curious if anyone knows whether any of the original Plaza Theater decor remains in the current Tao restaurant that occupies the space. I drove past not too long ago and the place is definitely still open, but I couldn’t see much inside. I’m fairly certain I saw the Lindsay Anderson comedy “Brittania Hospital” with Malcom McDowell here in ‘83. And there was a quasi-documentary film in 1986 called “Stripper” that I also saw here. Or so I believe. Does anyone know of any interior photos?
I haven’t been here in years, but in the 1980’s I saw several films here including the excellent and aptly titled “Tender Mercies” with Robert Duvall and one of Fellini’s last films, “Ginger and Fred” with Giulietta Massina and Marcello Mastroianni. I know that “Amadeus” played here, but I think I might have seen it at the Loew’s Astor Plaza.
In any event, the split balcony design (with sections separated by the projection booth) was also found in the Continental Theater (now UA Brandon) in Forest Hills, Queens. Now that the Continental has been twinned, I assume this peculiarity has been lost.
Your photographs are heartbreaking, davebazooka… but I’m glad you’ve taken it upon yourself to document and share these tragic images with all of us on CT. If you want to know the next cinema treasure on the chopping block, check out the comments on the RKO Keith’s page.
I remember seeing a number of movies here at the Beekman, although, contrary to my post of December 12, “Frances” (which I saw during its Oscar-qualifying run at the Cinema I & II in December of ‘82) was not one of them. There were a number of Woody Allen movies such as “Broadway Danny Rose”, “Purple Rose of Cairo” and “Hannah and Her Sisters” as well as the brooding British drama “Brimstone and Treacle” starring rock star Sting, also in '82.
Patsy… I had the Dept 56 RCMH under my tree this year. I love the lights! This year, we picked up the Ed Sullivan Theater as well as the dancing Rockettes (there are 3 not 4) which my dog got hold of and decapitated! So, we’ll have to pick it up again. I love the Christmas in the City set. We buy a new one every year. The Ed Sullican isn’t exactly an accurate representation (much like the Yankee Stadium model which makes the concrete facade appear as if it is constructed of red brick) but it makes for a nice Holiday decoration. I’m curious… where in NC did you catch the Christmas Spectacular? I didn’t know that it toured.
I remember seeing a number of movies here in the early 1980’s including the terrific Aussie flick “Breaker Morant” in the early winter of ‘81. Then there was Jessica Lange in the biopic “Frances” which had a one week Oscar-qualifying run here in December of '82 before its general release in January or February. I also saw Lumet’s epic police drama “Prince of the City” here as well as Bill Forsythe’s charming Scottish comedy “Local Hero” and John Lurie’s bizarre road flick “Stranger than Paradise.” I believe that was the last film I saw at the Cinema I and II – was that 1984? I remember while I was in the neighborhood for either “Local Hero” or “Breaker Morant” it was so cold out that I ran into Alexander’s to buy myself a cheap scarf and pair of gloves. I seem to recall when you walked up out of the subway you came up right in front of theater practically under the Cinema II marquee, with the Cinema I marquee just a few steps ahead of you and the Baronet/Coronet marquee beyond that further down the block.
Anyway… It certainly wasn’t the theater’s modern design and physical specifications but the wonderful programming that kept me coming back.
The loss of the original Loew’s State was a tragedy… I don’t think many will bemoan the loss of this particular facility, which barely lasted a decade. Having said that… with its closure the Great White Way will be without a single movie house for perhaps the first time in more than 90 years. I’m pretty sure that’s right. Even as the Rivoli, Strand and State were claimed by criminal acts of greed and vandalism, I believe the National Twin and Rialto (under the Warner name) had clung to life into the late 90’s as the new subterranean State was being built. The Ziegfeld has the closest proximity, but is well off the block on W. 54th Street. One will have to travel out of the theater district up to the 60’s or down to 19th Street to find a movie playing right on Broadway.
I think there are two factors here: 1) While the Caldor site is certainly more convenient to all means of public transportation (not to mention an existing underground parking lot), it is not in as prominent a location as the Keith’s is, sitting at the very head of Main Street. 2) After 20 years, Politicians just wanted to have done with the whole Keith’s issue already. They consider it nothing more than an “eyesore” that no one in the community – save for a few fanatical theater enthusiasts – gives a damn about. So, they throw us a bone with the alleged “restoration” of the lobby. Once the damn thing is built, the thorn in everyone’s side falls off.
As I said above, the Caldor’s site is an odd shaped parcel that is almost like two buildings (one on Roosevelt and one on Main) connected by a smaller passageway that wraps around the storefronts that actually sit on the corner of the intersection. So, you’d have to buy up the corner parcel(s) and then might want to consider the storefront parcel(s) to the south that abut the railroad tracks, depending on the scale of the building. And that part of Main Street is sort of grimy and very busy; usually teeming with foot traffic as well as vehicular gridlock due to the confluence of so many city bus lines, and therefore far less desireable than the wider and more orderly thouroughfare of Northern Blvd. I don’t think anyone will ever get Boymelgreen to relocate its plans to the Caldor’s site.
Multiple posts, I find, usually occur when you click the “Submit” button more than once. If it seems like the Submit request is taking a long time, you should still refrain from clicking the button again. Even when the site times out on me during the Submit process, often when I go back in, I find that my comment has been posted after all.
The Alexander’s/Caldor building is on the east side of Main Street just south of Roosevelt Ave and just a couple of storefronts north of the LIRR railroad tracks. It ran in an L-shape behind the buildings on the corner of Main and Roosevelt so that there was an even larger entrance and facade on Roosevelt. The Main Street entrance was across from 40th Road which ran into Main Street from the west and there is an underground parking garage located adjacent to the entrance. On Roosevelt Ave, the entrance was right next to Stern’s (which I guess is now a Macy’s). I think the corner was a Woolworth’s… but I might be mistaken.
Yes… PKoch… I’m getting my shows mixed up. It was Sanborn’s show that I’m thinking of on NBC late nights. Jools Holland was part of the show… was it called “Night Music”? I think it started on Sunday nights but was then moved to weeknights. One show had the band Bongwater, Screaming Jay Hawkins, the Modern Jazz Quartet and Bob Weir in acoustic duet with bassist Rob Wasserman. At the end, all these musicians (or folks from each band) got together and jammed. Quite a bunch. And a great house band that included, if I recall, Omar Hakim on drums and Hiram Bullock on guitar (both of whom had been in Letterman’s original band when his late night talk show debuted on NBC in ‘82).
Anyway… I’m confusing that show with the show that Jools Holland did on his own in the ‘90’s. I think when I saw it recently on cable, it reminded me of the Sanborn show and resulted in my mistaking it for an offshoot or updating.
Not sure about the “In Concert” from ‘72 and '73, but there was definitely an identically named show in the '90’s on ABC. One episode featured footage from Grateful Dead concerts at Giants Stadium in NJ with a theme centered around the Dead’s efforts to conserve the Rainforest.
I didn’t realize it had reopened before the end of that year. I thought the whole point of the qualifying run was that producers wanted to make sure the movie played at least one week in either New York or L.A. to be eligible for the following year’s ceremony. Did the engagement at the Beekman start too late to guarantee a full week of shows? Is your date of 12/22 accurate? If so, that should have done the trick.
I was reading today’s posting of the news item about a fire in the Yeadon Theater in PA and was delighted to learn that the Yeadon was saved from redevelopment after demolition had already begun and the rear wall had been taken down! I think that gives us some cause to maintain hope that something can be done about the Keith’s. Now, I’m sure dealing with the bureaucracy in NYC will be a great deal more dificult than it was in Yeadon, PA… but the story should serve as some inspiration never the less.
Truly sorry to hear about this and I hope that the Yeadon is salvagable. Sounds like the fire was confined mostly to the lobby area, so there is reason to believe a restoration will be possible. I will take one very positive thing away from reading this item and that is: that a prescious cinema treasure can be saved from extinction even as demolition was already begun! This gives hope to those of us who support the opposition to the proposed redevelopment of the RKO Kieth’s in Flushing, Queens, NY.
I see what Ken Layton is inferring, however. That there may have been a business rationale behind the theater manager’s decision not to book the film, rather than a motive of discrimination. Although, I supposed, one may assume that discrimination might be a root level operative here within that theater’s community. I take more umbrage at a chain of theaters (or video stores) that refuses to carry a specific title due to content on a blanket scale than I do at a single theater prudently reacting to the demands of their market. No sense in booking a film at a neighborhood cinema if no one in the neighborhood will support it anyhow.
If, on the other hand, a small group of self-righteous religious watchdogs have taken it upon themsleves to speak for the entire population of Salt Lake City and block bookings and screenings of “Brokeback Mountain” throughout the municipality, then I would criticize each theater for backing down in the face of intolerance.
Thanks Al!!! That’s been bugging me for a while now. Then I saw the movie at the 57th St. Playhouse. I probably saw another film or two that same day in the city, since my M.O. was usually to squeeze in as much as possible on these solo ventures into Manhattan.
East Coast… a history of hostility towards theater buffs on the part of the furniture store owner/manager has been noted in comments above. Thanks for the info. Yeah, I thought that Kirschner was on ABC, but I wasn’t 100% sure. I thought that maybe David Susskind’s interview show was on Channel 5 during that time slot, but I think Susskind’s show was on Sunday nights at 11:30. I’m still fuzzy on which show ran on which night. I’m thinking “Midnight Special” was Friday nights on NBC and “Rock Concert” was Saturdays on ABC.
ABC tried a show called “In Concert” for a while during the ‘90’s. I think they might have even had it on prime time at some point. And NBC used to carry an excellent and eclectic series on late nights called “Later” that was hosted by the former Squeeze keyboardist Jooles Holland. I recall that show mostly in the '80’s with David Sanborn as a co-host, but I have recently seen more recent episodes (featuring bands like Foo Fighters, Wilco and Coldplay) airing on the cable station Ovation. I think the show has been running in Britain for some time and only breifly made it on American network TV.
Yes East Coast… It didn’t last very long, but it was certainly the old Valley Stream under the name Rio. I saw some shows at the Calderone Music Hall as well – which had a more streamlined 1940’s style interior. Definitely Rio on Rockaway Ave. If you read some of the (albeit sketchy) history above, they built the theater with stage and fly space for live productions back in the 1920’s.
Patsy… I’ve been to the Christmas show on several occasions Jewish friends (including my ex-wife and our children who are all Jewish) over the years and – while the Nativity doesn’t have the same resonance with them as it would with a Christian of faith – they were able to appreciate the show purely for its entertainment value. Going in to the show with their eyes wide open (it is, after all, called the “Radio City Christmas Show”) they were not offended by the proceedings and happily stayed till the end, judging the spectacle purely on its artistic merits. The Nativity finale does not push the same hot buttons that, say, Mel Gibson’s film “The Passion” did (whether or not you agree with the criticism heaped upon that movie).
I should say that the same goes for me, since I am not what you would call a religious fellow. And, no, Bill… neither Elmhurst nor Laurelton are close enough to Hicksville that I would have seen “2001” at the Twin South Theater. Thanks for that suggestion, however.
I’m positive I saw “Frances” in December of ‘82 during an Oscar-qualifying run. I’m almost certain it was at the Cinema 1 & 2 on Third Avenue. Yet it makes AlAlvarez’ list for the Beekman. Al, can you tell me if it was booked into both theaters for that week? It didn’t open to wider release until the following January or February.
Thanks again for the great lists… it certainly does jog some memories, however, there are a few films here that might have played multiple theater on the East Side and I’m hesitant to nail them down as films I definitely saw at the Beekman. My heart is telling me to swallow the $600 annual pill for that Proquest subscription, but my wallet is holding me back! I just have to make some time to get to the library and check out the Times on microfilm.
“2001” is also my all-time favorite film, Bill. “Dr. Strangelove” is not too far behind. Kubrick may be my very favorite director. A friend of the family named Henry took me to see the movie when I was very, very young – perhaps 4 or 5 – towards the end of its initial theatrical release. I can vaguely remember childhood images from the opening “dawn of man” sequence up on a huge screen. I also saw “Planet of the Apes” around this time – maybe a year or so earlier – and I remember when I was 8 or 9 mistaking my memories of “2001” for “Apes.” Later, when I went to see the Fox “Go Ape” revival of all 5 “Apes†films on the same bill, I realized nothing in the movie matched the images I had in my mind of naked apes coming up over a hill in a threatening manner. When my Dad took me to see “2001” when it was re-released in the late ‘70’s, I finally realized that the images I had thought belonged to “Apes” were from the “Dawn of Man” sequence where the two clans face off over the drinking hole.
I have no recollection of which theater I saw “2001” either of those times, but I don’t think it was in Manhattan. I would have to do some research of newspaper ads to figure it all out. I lived in Elmhurst the first time I saw it and in Laurelton the second – so I presume the theaters were reasonably close to either neighborhood, and further reason that the prints were 35mm projected on flat screens. If so, that means I’ve never experienced the movie in a 70mm format, let along projected on a Cinerama screen. That is something I hope and pray one day to be able to put right. I might have also seen “2001†again as an adult in the ‘80’s, but I think it was at a Manhattan revival house â€" surely a 35mm print. I’d have to ask my ex-wife about that to confirm details.
Kirshner was also the man behind The Monkees! I remember the Rock Concert show. I recall it from the late ‘70’s mostly. If I’m not mistaken, it competed with a show called “Midnight Special” on WNBC channel 4 that featured Wolfman Jack as announcer and a variety of rotating guest hosts (I recall folks as diverse as Helen Reddy and Todd Rundgren taking turns). Both of these shows lasted until the very early '80’s – when the rising popularity of MTV probably took whatever remained of the wind out of their sails.
I forget which show it was, but one of them advertised that it would have the Grateful Dead on the following week – I was a burgeoning young Dead-Head at the time – and when I tuned in, it was merely some clips from the upcoming Grateful Dead movie that were shown. I’m trying to remember what the time slots were… I’m thinking Saturday nights, but then… channel 4 would have had Saturday Night Live on from 11:30 to 1am. Did they run on Friday night? I don’t think so…
Anyway… did Kirshner’s “Rock Concerts” always originate from the Loew’s 46th Street?
I only wish the prices for good event seating at the Hall would come down. Top price is $200 for the upcoming Chinese New Year show. I understand there is a scale and one can get in for as little as $49, if you don’t mind the third tier, you can’t touch the orchestra for less than $85 – and that’s all the way at the rear. That starts piling up pretty high if you want to bring the family along. Those ridiculous “Premium Seat” schemes aside, $100 will get you a top notch seat in the more intimate legitimate theaters of Broadway.
I suppose its what the market will bear, however. As long as they keep selling tickets at that level, the prices will never be lowered. I noticed that top price tickets for the current Rolling Stones stint at the Madison Square Garden are going for $454!!! Imagine that! I can recall seeing the Stones at the Garden in 1981 for something like $17.50. Never mind that back in the late ‘70’s you got the stage show AND a movie at RCMH for very popular prices.
Ditto! Fantastic list, AlAlvarez! I also hope to see a list for the ‘70’s and '80’s.
Thanks for sharing that, East Coast Rocker – living up to your name indeed! I can’t recall which specific movies I saw here as well, though probably not very many. “High Anxiety” is a possibility since I remember seeing that with my Dad at the time we lived in Laurelton – but I remember seeing that movie early in its run and I’m not sure if this theater was still showing first run movies at the time. I returned here in ‘84 or so for a concert by the bands Hot Tuna and Bobby & The Midnights (a side project for Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead) when it was known as Rio.
I’m still curious if anyone knows whether any of the original Plaza Theater decor remains in the current Tao restaurant that occupies the space. I drove past not too long ago and the place is definitely still open, but I couldn’t see much inside. I’m fairly certain I saw the Lindsay Anderson comedy “Brittania Hospital” with Malcom McDowell here in ‘83. And there was a quasi-documentary film in 1986 called “Stripper” that I also saw here. Or so I believe. Does anyone know of any interior photos?
I haven’t been here in years, but in the 1980’s I saw several films here including the excellent and aptly titled “Tender Mercies” with Robert Duvall and one of Fellini’s last films, “Ginger and Fred” with Giulietta Massina and Marcello Mastroianni. I know that “Amadeus” played here, but I think I might have seen it at the Loew’s Astor Plaza.
In any event, the split balcony design (with sections separated by the projection booth) was also found in the Continental Theater (now UA Brandon) in Forest Hills, Queens. Now that the Continental has been twinned, I assume this peculiarity has been lost.
Your photographs are heartbreaking, davebazooka… but I’m glad you’ve taken it upon yourself to document and share these tragic images with all of us on CT. If you want to know the next cinema treasure on the chopping block, check out the comments on the RKO Keith’s page.
I remember seeing a number of movies here at the Beekman, although, contrary to my post of December 12, “Frances” (which I saw during its Oscar-qualifying run at the Cinema I & II in December of ‘82) was not one of them. There were a number of Woody Allen movies such as “Broadway Danny Rose”, “Purple Rose of Cairo” and “Hannah and Her Sisters” as well as the brooding British drama “Brimstone and Treacle” starring rock star Sting, also in '82.
How different would the state of theatrical exhibition be today if not for the anti-trust ruling of 1948, I wonder?
Patsy… I had the Dept 56 RCMH under my tree this year. I love the lights! This year, we picked up the Ed Sullivan Theater as well as the dancing Rockettes (there are 3 not 4) which my dog got hold of and decapitated! So, we’ll have to pick it up again. I love the Christmas in the City set. We buy a new one every year. The Ed Sullican isn’t exactly an accurate representation (much like the Yankee Stadium model which makes the concrete facade appear as if it is constructed of red brick) but it makes for a nice Holiday decoration. I’m curious… where in NC did you catch the Christmas Spectacular? I didn’t know that it toured.
I remember seeing a number of movies here in the early 1980’s including the terrific Aussie flick “Breaker Morant” in the early winter of ‘81. Then there was Jessica Lange in the biopic “Frances” which had a one week Oscar-qualifying run here in December of '82 before its general release in January or February. I also saw Lumet’s epic police drama “Prince of the City” here as well as Bill Forsythe’s charming Scottish comedy “Local Hero” and John Lurie’s bizarre road flick “Stranger than Paradise.” I believe that was the last film I saw at the Cinema I and II – was that 1984? I remember while I was in the neighborhood for either “Local Hero” or “Breaker Morant” it was so cold out that I ran into Alexander’s to buy myself a cheap scarf and pair of gloves. I seem to recall when you walked up out of the subway you came up right in front of theater practically under the Cinema II marquee, with the Cinema I marquee just a few steps ahead of you and the Baronet/Coronet marquee beyond that further down the block.
Anyway… It certainly wasn’t the theater’s modern design and physical specifications but the wonderful programming that kept me coming back.
The loss of the original Loew’s State was a tragedy… I don’t think many will bemoan the loss of this particular facility, which barely lasted a decade. Having said that… with its closure the Great White Way will be without a single movie house for perhaps the first time in more than 90 years. I’m pretty sure that’s right. Even as the Rivoli, Strand and State were claimed by criminal acts of greed and vandalism, I believe the National Twin and Rialto (under the Warner name) had clung to life into the late 90’s as the new subterranean State was being built. The Ziegfeld has the closest proximity, but is well off the block on W. 54th Street. One will have to travel out of the theater district up to the 60’s or down to 19th Street to find a movie playing right on Broadway.